Online food delivery or delivering food to homes is the key attribute that takes restaurant sales to the next level. When people enjoy their favorite restaurant food without the hassle of going out, they tend to order more frequently.
During COVID, when dine-ins were not allowed, the restaurants that switched to online food delivery systems were the ones that were able to continue their services and earned profits, too.
While online food delivery services create a channel for restaurants to drive sales, it also means heavier competition. With endless options for customers to order online, you would not want to go unnoticed.
Online food delivery systems that are quick, accurate, and safe effectively retain customers. To help you maximize sales and increase revenue, we’ve come up with seven effective tips to improve your food delivery services! Let’s dive in.
Six Tips to Improve Online Food Delivery Services
Page Contents
1.) Convenient Services
The key aspect behind the success of the on-demand economy is the convenience it offers to customers. Who would like to step out when they can enjoy delicious restaurant food sitting at home?
Who would like to wait in queues when they can order their food in a few clicks and get it delivered?
So, the idea is to make your restaurant services easily accessible and convenient.
95% of restaurant owners say that technology helps them improve their business efficiency. An online food ordering system offers many advantages for expanding your restaurant business and retaining customers. You can take online orders on your restaurant website.
But, people find ordering food using a mobile phone more convenient than ordering through a website. You can build a custom mobile app for your restaurant to enable customers to order food online.
Restaurant owners can effectively manage multiple orders during peak hours, thanks to the online food ordering system. Make sure that your food ordering mobile app is compatible with all devices and platforms.
Keep the interface design of your mobile restaurant app simple and user-friendly. Do not forget to add a call to action button and keep it easily visible for quick order placements.
If you do not want to wait months to create a food delivery app from scratch, you can try Foodiv a SasS-based ready-to-use food ordering system for restaurants. There is no need for huge initial investments, as you can get our food ordering system on monthly subscriptions.
2.) Leverage the power of Social Media
Social media is the charm you can use to attract more customers to your restaurant business. 58.4% of the world’s population spends 2 hours and 27 minutes on social media. They are scrolling Instagram and Facebook to find new places to dine and get reviews.
So, if you have a strong online presence on social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, you can readily boost your sales. Particularly, Instagram marketing for food businesses is quite effective to attract millennials.
Let your customers order directly from your restaurant’s social pages by adding a CTA button. It makes ordering much more convenient and quick for users. They can order, share, and review all on the social pages.
3.) Speed & Accuracy
Make sure your food delivery services are fast and free from errors. Your customers would not like to be served cool meals. You can use a few tips to make your food deliveries quick and accurate.
a) Train your drivers to verify each order before delivery to reach the right customer. You can use labels to make it easy and quick for delivery drivers to differentiate the parcels.
b) Gather complete address details of customers with a landmark to make it quick to locate. The online food delivery system comes to the rescue here. Drivers can view directions on integrated maps and find optimal routes to avoid traffic, and deliver on or before time.
c) Train your drivers always to use a time window. Never say 7 30, sure, because if you show up at 7 32, you’re late. If you show up at 7.28, you’re early. Always say anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes; it is a more than appropriate time window.
d) Assign and schedule duties of each delivery driver according to different hours of the day, like busiest hours or normal hours. You can assign more delivery boys during peak hours.
Restaurant owners can use on-demand food delivery systems to view heat maps. Heat maps show the areas with the maximum order for deliveries and assign more delivery boys to that particular area.
e) The on-demand food ordering system helps customers track their orders and get an estimated arrival time. It alleviates customer anxiety and takes the friction off your staff to answer phone calls saying where my food is.
4.) Attractive Menu
As per statistics, customers tend to order more online than on the phone or in restaurants. When they order food on calls, they have pre-decided what to order, and the order is limited.
However, when they order online on a food delivery system, they scroll down a variety of luring images of delicious cuisines, so they tend to shop and order more. So, be careful when you create a digital menu for your restaurant business.
Make sure it is easily accessible, easy to read, and highly attractive with a clear call to action button.
You can use the data of your previous delivery orders to discover which dishes customers like and order the most. So, you can add more such varieties to your menus and boost sales.
5.)Promotions and Incentives
Do your customers know that you deliver online? Not sure. If you want more and more customers to order food from your restaurant and get the benefits of the food ordering system, you need first to inform them that your restaurant is open for online food deliveries.
The best way to do that is through promotions. You can promote your restaurant in many ways.
- Put the call to action button saying “ORDER ONLINE” right below your website logo to make it clearly visible.
- Include Email marketing to your promotion strategy and add a big label or image in each email saying “ORDER ONLINE or WE ARE OPEN FOR ONLINE ORDERS”.
- Promote on social media handles. It is the best place to instantly promote your business among millions of users. You can post each day about the top dishes of your restaurant, top vegetarian dishes, newly added desserts, etc.
Incentives are real motivators and boosters for each one of us. Your customers will love them too. So, provide special discounts or offers on online ordering to motivate them to order more. For example, create promo codes, run loyalty programs, and referral rewards on your food delivery app.
6.) Food Presentation and Packaging
Focus on the little touches that bring the service to the next level. How does your driver look- are they in their uniform, or do they at least look neat?
Another important thing to focus on is food packaging. Branded packaging makes your food look attractive and steals your customer’s heart. Use high-quality packaging to keep the food hot, safe, and hygienic.
For example, you can add safety seal stickers to every food package assuring food freshness and integrity.
You can also add small freebies like discount codes or napkins personalized with your brand name and logo.
You can also add a beautiful and personalized Thank You note as it creates a personal bond and goes a long way.
However, you can use brand packaging to get the twofold benefits.
- It will make you stand out and make your delivery services extra special.
- Your restaurant logo and name on the packaging are another way to promote your business and make it more visible to your customers.
Conclusion
Everyone is ordering online nowadays, and as a restaurant, you can utilize online food ordering and delivery platforms to increase your online orders and sales. But to out beat your competitors, you will surely need to improve your delivery services as well.
You can improve your food delivery services by prioritizing customer convenience and satisfaction. Hope the above tips will help serve your customers in the best possible manner. Get into the online delivery market instantly with a ready-to-launch on-demand food delivery system.
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